Derek Grant.
Kalle Kossila.
Dennis Rasmussen.
Antoine Vermette.
Andrew Cogliano.
The Anaheim Ducks are in desperate need of a top centerman to offset the massive, long-term injuries to Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler.
Yes, Randy Carlyle is playing journeyman Derek Grant at his #1 pivot position. Wingers Rickard
Rakell and Chris Wagner have also auditioned to play the emergeny center position.
Injuries to important plow horses have rendered Anaheim ineffective. The Ducks enter Sunday’s action 12th in the Western Conference standings with a 7-7-3 record and are 5-4-2
in their last 11 games. The Ducks have scored 48 goals while allowing 50 goals against.
The Ducks have their scouts deployed and are currently in search mode for a legit, top flight center ice man.
Last week, the Ducks sent a scout to Buffalo to watch Sabres-Capitals. The Sabres and Ducks don’t play again until the new year. The Caps don’t play the Ducks until mid-December.
It would not surprise me at all to learn that the Ducks were in Buffalo to watch Sabres center-winger Samson Reinhart, who will be a restricted free agent on July 1, 2018. Reinhart has struggled offensively this season with only 2 goals and 3 assists in 16 games played. However, Reinhart has made serious strides on the defensive side of the puck in all three zones. Reinhart averages 15:36 TOI and is a 45.5% faceoff man.
In 184 career NHL games, Reinhart, 22, has scored 42 goals and 53 assists for 95 points. His career high for goals scored was 23 in 2015-16.
Is Reinhart available for trade?
Why not?
The Sabres have not won yet with him. All due respect to Reinhart, the Buffalo struggles are not his fault. His former GM Tim Murray invested premium draft choices in forward prospects while ignoring his D corps. The Eichel puck was a no brained. The Sabres ranked for a generational player and got their man. However, at the 2016 NHL Draft Murray head faked the market by selecting slick winger Alex Nylander eighth overall rather than select a blue chip D prospect in Mikhail Sergachev or Jakob Chychrun.
Botterill’s greatest area of need right now is D. If he can trade Reinhart now for a top four D, he should do so for the sake of his organizational depth.
The Sabres head into the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday in 30th place in the NHL standings.
Reinhart was the selected second overall in 2014. Reinhart is a very intriguing and valuable trade chip.
With Evander Kane scoring 17 points in the first 17 games of his unrestricted free agency contract year, Sabres GM Jason Botterill has to make a final decision in Reinhart. Kane is going to break the bank whe he signs his next contract, Be it in Buffalo or elsewhere. It’s easy for me to see a scenario where Kane re-signs in Buffalo for $7M AAV For 8 seasons. Trading Kane would put a serious crimp in Jack Eichel’s offensive production at present and in the future.
Reinhart finds himself in a situation where he will only be earning a two or three year bridge contract at $2.5M AAV.
Trading Reinhart to Anaheim now would get Botterill a great young, top four D in Brandon Montour or Josh Manson, and D prospect Jacob Larsson.
The Ducks have also been scouting Calgary Flames center-winger Sam Bennett, who has struggled mightily this season. Bennett may just need a change of scenery to give his career a boost of adrenaline. Bennett is stuck on third line left wing buried beneath Johnny Gaudreau and Matt Tkachuk. Bennett won’t be seeing top six LW minutes any time soon. Bennett can’t crack into the center rotation with Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund, Curtis Lazar and rookie Mark Jankowski as well as they continue to play.
Two days after losing out on Matt Duchene, Bob Murray immediately shifted to Plan B. Murray and the Ducks had been hot pursuers of Duchene for the better part of the past ten months. In the end, Ottawa ended the Duchene Drama when Sens GM Pierre Dorion saw every other team’s best offers and raised them. Murray and a other GMs folded their cards and went home.
The Ducks are ham strung by serious injuries to other key contributors. Number one defenseman Cam Fowler (knee) is weeks away from returning to the lineup. Forward Patrick Eaves (Guillain-Barre syndrome), Ondrej Kase (concussion), and Jared Boll (lower-body injury).
Bob Murray continues to patch holes with call-ups from San Diego.
Murray has some LTIR cushion to continue to use. Reinhart is cost controlled at $894K this season.
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